1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure generally relates to methods for determining boundary points within a missile defense lattice and specifically relates to a method for determining boundary points within a lattice by determining a point within the lattice having a selected defense value and conducting sweeps to search for additional points within the lattice having the selected defense value until a set of boundary points is determined.
2. Background Description
In the area of missile defense, determination of a specified geographic region is required in which the particular region (Defended Area) can be protected from ground to ground missiles launched from another particular region (Launch Area). Current methods determine the Defended Area by defining two grids. The first grid defines a set of threat launch points. The second grid defines a set of potential threat impact points. A possible threat trajectory is determined for each pair of launch and impact points. Each threat trajectory is propagated from launch to impact via standard numerical integration methods for orbital mechanics. The process is repeated until all physically realizable combinations of threat launch points and threat impact points are propagated into a curve of threat trajectory points.
Currently each trajectory is evaluated to determine whether the threat can be detected by available sensors. If the threat is detectable, current methods determine whether the threat can be reached by available interceptors. The Launch Area Denied (LAD) is the region in which the threat trajectories originate, such that those trajectories can be both detected by the available sensors and reached by the available interceptors.
Current methods require a long run time (e.g., five or more hours) for reasonably large grids (e.g., one hundred threat launch points and one hundred threat impact points or ten thousand potential trajectories). A need exists for determining LAD in near real time (e.g., fifteen minutes or less), so that the effects of changes in sensor or interceptor location can be readily determined. Furthermore, current methods generally require that a lattice defining a geographic area be regularly spaced. Accordingly, a need exists for determining a set of boundary points within an irregularly spaced lattice in near real time.
Additionally, after numerical integration is complete, the raw data needs to be quickly deciphered and presented in a usable format. Accordingly, a method of determining a set of boundary points within a lattice is needed so that the raw computational data may be presented in an easy to read format.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems or disadvantages associated with the prior art.